(INDIANAPOLIS) — The winter storm has not only rescheduled some vaccine appointments, but
has delayed the expansion of who can get the shot.
Fifteen thousand Hoosiers got vaccinated Tuesday despite the big snow, but Governor Holcomb says
nearly three times that many had to be rescheduled Monday and Tuesday. Indiana State
Department of Health chief medical officer Lindsay Weaver says more than a fifth of Indiana’s
nearly 400 vaccination sites had to close.
Weaver says more postponements are likely, because the snow delayed shipment of Indiana’s
weeklly allocation of the Moderna vaccine.
Weaver says the disruptions have pushed back the expansion of vaccine eligibility to Hoosiers
between 60 and 64 years old. She says the department is working with clinics to add vaccination
days to get back on schedule, and says she’s hopeful vaccination of 60-year-olds will start
sometime next week.
Weaver says she’s not aware of any vaccine doses which had to be thrown away unused because
of the cancellations. She notes there was ample warning the storm was coming, and says clinics
which had to close just didn’t take the vials out of the freezer or refrigerator. Overall, she says
Indiana has had just 172 doses go to waste, due to issues like broken vials. That’s one-hundredth
of one-percent of the doses Indiana’s received so far.
